Five Tips for Open Office Comfort (and Harmony)

An open office space can take many forms: short-walled cubes, standing hotel desks, large rooms of long tables and rolling chairs. Such plans can help break down departmental silos, foster collaboration, and empower employees—but each space also presents unique obstacles. These can be easily overcome with common sense and common courtesy.

Here are five tips to make the most of your open office environment.

Sound Advice

Workers in need of peace, quiet, and privacy may find open offices challenging. Noise from co-workers, building systems, or even outside traffic can make it difficult to concentrate and complete tasks.

• 1. Improve Your Acoustical Comfort
  • Invest in noise-cancelling headphones. These work wonders in temporarily blocking out external distractions.
  • Silence your electronics. There’s noise enough in an open office without every laptop and phone pinging, buzzing, or beeping at every email, text, and meeting reminder.
  • Take your cell phone wherever you go. Don’t leave it unattended at your desk. If you have no choice but to leave it, silence the ringer.
  • Seek out a quiet corner or unused office space. Sometimes a temporary relocation may be just what you need to focus on the task at hand.
  • Read the silences. Be aware of co-workers in the zone: head down and earphones on likely  means they’d rather not be disturbed.

Sites for Sore Eyes

Access to natural light and views can help make you more comfortable and enhance your productivity. 

• 2. Improve Your Visual Comfort
  • Find a view outside. Take regular trips to a window or go for a short walk outside.
  • Respect the windows. Don’t block views with whiteboards and flip charts.
  • Embrace the white. Reflective surfaces around the office help bounce natural light into the interior. Keep them clear of excessive pictures and posters.
  • Clean up after yourself. Clutter and mess impact everyone in a negative way. Your mess is everyone’s mess.

Warm and Fuzzies

Fancy terms such as airflow velocity, radiant temperatures, and relative humidity are all implied in one simple question: are you comfortable? Open spaces present thermal challenges in every season of the year.

• 3. Improve Your Thermal Comfort
  • Communicate concerns through proper channels. Space too hot or cold? Convey precise observations to your facilities manager.
  • Layer your clothing. Take immediate control of your comfort level by adding or removing a top layer as needed. Also, it’s not a bad idea to keep a sweater or jacket stashed in your desk.

Air on the Side of Quality

Indoor air quality involves proper ventilation as well as managing temperature, humidity levels, and airborne particulates.

• 4. Improve Your Air Quality
  • Take your lunch to the cafeteria. Your neighbors might not share your enthusiasm for reheated Brussels sprouts. Kitchen and dining areas are equipped with exhaust fans and extra ventilation.
  • Keep it light. Use subtle scents for perfumes, lotions, and colognes.
  • Throw your trash away. Dispose of non-recyclable materials in designated areas away from communal working spaces. 

Commonsense Courtesy

Productivity in an open office space requires collaboration and concentration. Respecting boundaries where physical barriers may not exist is crucial.

• 5. Practice a Respectful Workplace
  • Acknowledge invisible lines. Need to stop by a co-worker’s desk for some info? Announce yourself politely and ask if you may interrupt.
  • Observe phone etiquette. Keep the ringer volume low or on vibrate. When in a call, avoid using the speaker.
  • More than two is too many. Schedule a conference space for meetings with more than two people; find a space away from everyone else for impromptu chats or small meetings.
  • Stay in your lane. Don’t join conversations unless you’re invited.

An open office environment can foster teamwork, encourage collaboration, and enhance productivity. It can also be a lot of fun, but each of us needs to pitch in, be accountable, and operate with respect.